A short, sweet, and to the point newsletter from an illustrator, book designer, and all around busy bee. ๐ By day, I work in the publishing industry as a book designer and illustrator. By night, I indulge in my inspirations and grow my creative business with slow, intentional steps. Every month, you'll get insights into living a creative life, what's currently inspiring me, behind the scenes peeks of works in progress, the stories behind the work, and freebies to help nurture your own creativity.
A New Studio Note has arrived! ๐ July 2026 Edition
Published 16 days agoย โขย 2 min readย โขย News
Studio Note 07/26
Hello Reader,
We've passed the halfway point of the year, and as we slide into summer, I find myself thinking ahead with paintings and projects to tackle in the second half. There's a box of frames that I've collected from estate and yard sales that I want to fill with paintings.
Life has been so busy this summer. I feel like I've hardly had anytime time to work on art projects outside of work, and home duties. There were glimpses of peace and calm, though, like seeing deer pass through the yard or seeing my garden that I was certain would not grow this year actually growing.
Deer frequently visit my yard. Please ignore the driveway weeds for now.
This tomato will be ready to be picked soon!
Here's a summary if you're short on time :
life updates lately
good paints make all the difference! plus Winterhalter wip
digital mail club, anyone?
Art Notes
New art supplies are always exciting, so I'm thrilled to be able to play with some Winsor & Newton Designer Gouache. I reeeally want to master this medium. I've used it before but still feel quite frustrated with it and not as comfortable with it as I am watercolor.
Turns out having high quality supplies makes a huge difference!
Historically, I've sealed my vulnerable watercolor paintings with several coats of UV protective spray. I bought some Gamblin cold wax to try, since I heard it's great for sealing paintings. Even though it's typically for oil painting, it was incredibly easy to use on paper, and I noticed on test areas that it even leaves a subtly streaky texture akin to brush strokes if it's applied a bit thicker. I think between an initial coat of UV spray plus the cold wax, I'll have indestructible paintings!
What this means for you is if you purchase an original piece, it will be well protected and not smelly (the UV sealant spray has a strong odor I can't seem to do anything about).
New Winsor and Newton Designer Gouache
I've been using it to pick at this Winterhalter study over the last week or so.
Shop Notes
"Portrait of a Kelpie" prints are still unavailable. I hope to have them available at the end of the month, but there is a strong possibility it will be later than that.
Extra Notes
I posed this question to my Instagram audience, so I'm going to pose it to you now - what do you think of a virtual mail club where you get a piece of artwork and a story that goes with it each month, straight to your inbox? I've been pondering this for a while and right now I'm still gauging interest, so there is no launch date planned at this point, but would you be interested? Hit reply and let me know!
from Catherine Herold - Illustrator & Graphic Designer
A short, sweet, and to the point newsletter from an illustrator, book designer, and all around busy bee. ๐ By day, I work in the publishing industry as a book designer and illustrator. By night, I indulge in my inspirations and grow my creative business with slow, intentional steps. Every month, you'll get insights into living a creative life, what's currently inspiring me, behind the scenes peeks of works in progress, the stories behind the work, and freebies to help nurture your own creativity.
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